5th PD in 3 years Ex-member of 3 UN peacekeeping forces is new Aurora PNP top cop

CAMP RAVINA, BALER, Aurora, September 22, 2012–A former member of three United Nations peacekeeping forces who was twice spot-promoted to the next higher rank for successfully engaging criminal and kidnapping-for-ransom (KFR) syndicates in armed encounters is the new provincial director of the Philippine National Police.

            Senior Superintendent Jose Santiago Hidalgo Jr. assumed the provincial post Monday vice Senior Superintendent Benjamin Hulipas in turn-over ceremonies at the PNP Regional Office 3 headquarters in Camp Olivas, Pampanga presided over by PRO3 director, Chief Superintendent Edgar Ladao. He is the fifth provincial police official in the province in 36 months.

            Hulipas, who was designated just last January, is the fourth consecutive officer to fail  to complete the routine two-year tour of duty of a provincial director in the province. His predecessor Senior Superintendent Ervin Gumban was relieved after only nine months following a crime wave.

            Other provincial directors before them who served abbreviated stints were Gumban’s predecessor Senior Superintendent Rosvi Manulid who was relieved after only seven months and Senior Superintendent Romulo Esteban who was booted out after only a year reportedly over “dismal performances” as Aurora top cops.

The case of Hulipas, a native of Barangay Suklayin here - and the second Auroran to serve as provincial director after Senior Superintendent Zorobabel Laureles in 1993 - was, however, different as he was promoted as chief of staff of the PRO8 based in Palo, Leyte.

Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo expressed satisfaction over the performance of Hulipas, saying the latter should be congratulated for a job well done.

“If only his departure was not because of a promotion, I won’t let him go,” she said of Hulipas, who was credited for the 75% reduction in crimes in the province, already considered the most peaceful among the seven provinces in Central Luzon even before he came in.

Hidalgo, a native of Cuyapo in Nueva Ecija and a member of Batch ’91 or the “Tagapagkalinga Class” of the PNP Academy, comes with very impressive credentials and a sterling background as outstanding police officer.

Aside from being the new provincial director of the Aurora police, he holds in a concurrent capacity the post of battalion commander of the 1,600-strong 3^rd Regional Public Safety Battalion, with four companies under his command. These include the 1^st maneuver company based in Lubao, Pampanga; the 2^nd maneuver company based in Gapan City in Nueva Ecija and the technical support platoon bannered by the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

The battalion has various complicated functions ranging from public safety and security, crisis incident and crowd dispersal management, explosive ordnance disposal; disaster response, relief and rehabilitation; tactical training, hostage rescue, water search and rescue and VIP protection and security.      

Hidalgo was part of the 80-man UN mission in East Timor in 2000 where he was designated as investigator of the serious crimes investigating unit whose primary function was investigate human rights violations committed by Indonesian military forces. In 2002, he was also a member of the 30-man UN mission to Kozovo and in another UN mission in Nigeria in West Africa in 2005.

To be part of the mission is regarded in police circles as quite an achievement, considering the rigid screening process, including an examination supervised by a UN representative. Hidalgo spent a total of three years in the UN missions. 

Hidalgo was assigned in various capacities as station commander in the towns of Bakakay and Tiwi in Albay; Cainta, Rizal and the Ermita police; as deputy police chief in San Juan, as commanding officer of the Light Reaction Unit or SWAT team of the National Capital Region, as a member of the district police intelligence unit of the Eastern Police District, the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force and its successor, Presidential Anti-Crime Emergency Response.

It was with the NAKTAF and the PACER when his star shone brightest after he was twice spot-promoted, first from senior inspector (captain) to chief inspector (major) and then from chief inspector to superintendent following a series of armed encounters with criminal syndicates and KFR gangs. Being spot-promoted is considered a rare feat but Hidalgo pulled it off twice.

A known protege of Ladao, Hidalgo also had several stints with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group - the crack police unit dealing with high-profile crimes - as deputy chief of the detection and special operations division in Camp Crame, deputy chief of the CDIG Region 2 office based in Tuguegarao, Cagayan and concurrently CIDG provincial officer in Quirino and deputy chief of the unit’s anti-organized crime division. All these under the tutelage of Ladao who was his immediate superior.

When Ladao was named PRO3 chief, he took with him Hidalgo whose last previous assignment was as chief of the district special operations unit of the Northern Police District.    

Hidalgo said he would continue the anti-crime gains posted by the Aurora PNP under Hulipas and run after illegal loggers and violators of special laws. (Manny Galvez)